Our last day in Paris

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We followed the Garmen all the way to the airport. As was often the case, it took us a direct route using one-lane roads. The landscape was covered in morning fog and Jack kept wishing that we didn’t have a plane to catch so he could stop to take some pictures. Our flight back on easyJet was easier than that prior flight. Jack graciously agreed to take the bus from Orly into the city since it went to the 14^thArondissement where our hotel was located. We got off the bus and lugging our 2 big suitcases and our heavy backpacks it was hard to get a cab. When we finally got a cab it was 5 minutes to our hotel. The Fabe Hotel was highly recommended by Trip Advisor. The hotel itself was very modern and the staff at the desk was charming and funny. The neighborhood left something to be desired. Perhaps it suffered from comparison with the Marais. We went to lunch around the corner at the Warehouse where the food was good and more importantly on a beautiful, sunny day we ate in a garden.

After lunch we headed to the Musee Nissim Comondo. Pam Ende had highly recommended the museum. The Comondo family were referred to as the Rothschilds of the East since they came from Constantinople. The moved to Paris in the 19^th Century having been fabulously successful and continued their success. Maurice built the Maison to house his collection of 18^th Century art and furniture. Rooms were built to specific dimensions to accommodate paneling he bought from the Chateaux that had originally housed them. When his son was killed fighting for France in WWI, he became a semi-recluse only entertaining the most sophisticated and influential members of art and cusine focused society. He left the home and everything in it along with an endowment to pay for upkeep to the people of France to be administered by the Musee Arts Decorative. The grateful citizens of France accepted the gift at his death in 1925. In recognition of his generosity to France, the Vichy government let the Gestapo haul his one surviving child, her husband and two children to Auschwitz where along with 6 million other Jews they were murdered. When you tour the museum there is no mention of the fate of the family in the audio tour and in the brochure, there is a note that the family “died tragically at Auschwitz. I don’t think the French like to acknowledge what they did to their Jews. Whenever possible, they prefer to ignore this part of their history or blame it on someone else. Not many tourists seem to make it to the museum so as you walk around it is quiet and somber. It’s pretty sad.

To cheer myself up (call me superficial), I went to find the orange pocketbook I wanted as my souvenir. I went back to the store where I had seen one I liked, but it was gone. When I headed to Monparnasse, I got out of the Metro and walked by a store with handbags and luggage. I went in and it took 2 minutes to find something I liked. After that I got lost. Well, I knew sort of where I was, but I had a hard time finding a metro to get back to the hotel.

For dinner went to a local place that had been recommended by the staff at the hotel. Quel domage…It wasn’t very appealing and when the olives we were served came from a can, we got up and walked out. We went back to the hotel and they gave us another recommendation. This restaurant was empty and it looked like the wait staff had a bunch of shopping bags pilled up near the door. Another non-starter. I found something on Trip Advisor with good reviews that looked nice and was reasonably close. When we arrived we were pretty optimistic. I had to ask for fresh bread, but Jack’s appetizer was pretty good. The main courses were bad and when my soufflé came it looked underdone. I put in my spoon and it was liquidy. When I complained to the waiter, he looked at me with a snooty expression and said, that was how soufflés are supposed to be. When I pulled out a big chunk of frozen rasberries and told him I had been making soufflés for 30 years, the owner came over and acknowledged the dessert was unacceptable. When he had called a taxi for us and came outside to give us the information, I gave him some culinary advice. I’m sure he didn’t listen, but at least I was able to add a review to Trip Advsior to hopefully save other innocent tourists.

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